Hester M. Peirce is a Commissioner at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. This post is based on her recent remarks before the Medici Conference, available here. The views expressed in this post are those of Ms. Peirce and do not necessarily reflect those of the Securities and Exchange Commission or its staff.
Thank you, Vince [Molinari], for that kind introduction. I appreciate the opportunity to be here today. I must start with the standard disclaimer that my comments today reflect my own opinions and not necessarily those of the Commission or my fellow Commissioners.
Back in Washington, DC, there has been a lot of talk about regulatory sandboxes. A number of forward-looking regulators, both here and abroad, have created regulatory sandboxes. In the United Kingdom, for example, the Financial Conduct Authority operates a regulatory sandbox that “allows businesses to test innovative products, services, business models and delivery mechanisms in the real market, with real consumers.” Abu Dhabi’s RegLab was launched in late 2016 to allow an innovator “to develop and test its FinTech proposition in a safe environment while not putting undue regulatory burden on the participant.” The Monetary Authority of Singapore similarly is using a sandbox to “encourage[e] more FinTech experimentation so that promising innovations can be tested in the market and have a chance for wider adoption, in Singapore and abroad.” Under Chairman Chris Giancarlo, our sister agency—the Commodity Futures Trading Commission—has launched Lab CFTC, which “is designed to be the hub for the agency’s engagement with the FinTech innovation community.” And moving a bit closer to this coast, Arizona recently launched the first state-level regulatory sandbox for fintech with the objective of allowing people “to test innovative products, services, business models, and delivery mechanisms in the real market without incurring the regulatory costs and burdens that would otherwise be imposed.”
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